A Future of Ashes
by HazardLife
Summary: Seven years have passed. An evil corporation has invaded the spirit world, and now Chihiro must help Haku and his band of freedom fighters save their world.
1. Prologue

**Discalimer -** I do not own the rights to Spirited Away or its characters.

* * *

**Prologue**

The labour camp consisted of row upon row of wooden shacks, surrounded by a high concrete perimeter wall topped with barbed wire. Watch towers at each corner of the wall overlooked the camp, and armed guards with dogs patrolled outside. A piercing siren suddenly split the silence of the night. Guards who had been dozing at their posts jumped to attention, checking their guns and running towards the source of the alarm. High power spotlights in watch towers snapped on, and began scanning the surrounding fields for movement.

The spotlights found their prey, a small group of frog-men and slug-women dressed in tattered orange jumpsuits. The group was led by a human-looking male. He had the appearance of a young man of about 19 years, long green hair hung down to his shoulders, the fringe at the front almost covering his eyes. Like the others, he wore a prisoner jumpsuit, but he had tied his off at the waist, leaving his torso bare. The muscles in his arms and chest were well developed, from years of hard labour, and a tattoo of a dragon was emblazoned on his right arm. Lower on the arm, a manacle with a broken chain dangled from his wrist.

"Keep moving!" He yelled to his fellow escapees. Way behind them, the guards were giving chase. Rifle shots rang out, but none of them were hit. "There!" Called the young man, pointing to a dense patch of woodland, "We'll lose them in there!"

The guards tried their hardest, but could not catch up with the head start of the escaped prisoners. The escapees made it to the forest and disappeared among the trees. The pursuing guards halted at the edge, they would not risk going into the forest at night. The trees were on the side of the spirits, and would hinder the actions of the invading humans in any way they could.

Back at the camp, a guard and the camp overseer stood looking down into the elaborate tunnel the spirits had dug under the wall.

"Do we know who got out?" The overseer demanded.

"Well," The guard said nervously, "A few unimportant frogs and slugs… but there was also one other."

"Hmm?" The overseer grunted impatiently.

The guard stared at his feet, and shifted uncomfortably. "It was the one they call Haku."

"Haku? Oh hell, he's on the Red List," Groaned the overseer, pressing his head into his hand. "Mr Nakajima isn't going to like this."

"I'd be more worried about Kaito-sama," The Guard shivered. "He's one scary guy."


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Seven years had passed since Chihiro had moved to Kameiwa Town, and her memories of what had happened to her all those years ago when she had first arrived had faded away. She had dismissed them as childish dreams, there was no way such things could have been real. She was now a 17 year-old college student, and today was starting a new part-time job.

A year or so after her family had moved into town, a large company called Nakajima-Kaito Industries had built a large facility nearby, and now nearly everybody in town worked for them in some way. Chihiro had applied there for a job for during the summer school break, and had been offered a position as an office courier without even an interview.

She finished dressing, white blouse and grey trousers, and hurried downstairs for breakfast, tying her hair back with her favourite band, she couldn't remember where it had come from originally, but she felt it was important somehow.

Her mother had made toast. Chihiro took a bite, and regretted it. "Mum, it's burnt!" She moaned.

"It's good for you," Her father grinned, munching on a slice.

"I'm skipping breakfast," She decided.

Her mother frowned. "You should eat something, at least."

"I'll get something at work," Chihiro shrugged, heading for the door.

"Good luck!" Her father called after her.

She rode her bicycle through the town. When she had moved here, she had worried that living in a small town would mean there was nothing to do. It had turned out that the town was larger than she thought, and living here hadn't been so bad after all. Kameiwa had become even livelier after NKI had arrived and built its facility.

The facility itself was a complete contrast to the rural countryside that surrounded it – a number of glass and steel towers, surrounding a central pyramid-like structure. No one from town knew what went on inside the pyramid, those who worked at the facility only had jobs in the surrounding offices. Trucks and lorries went into it on a regular basis, but no one could recall them coming out again. One man even swore that he'd seen a helicopter being transported inside, which made no sense at all, because it would have no room to fly.

Chihiro pulled up on her bike at the guard hut, next to the main entrance. The grey-uniformed guard smiled kindly at her. "Can I help you, miss?"

"I'm stating work today," She told him.

"No problem. You can lock your bike up over there," He pointed to some stands at the back of the car park, "Then check in at reception in that big building there."

Chihiro thanked him and rode away in the direction of the bike stands. As the guard watched her go, the smile dropped from his lips. He took his radio from his belt and spoke two words. "She's here."

After locking up her bike, Chihiro walked nervously towards reception. The imposing glass building towered over her, reflecting the world like a mirror. The automatic doors hissed open like an airlock and she walked through into the lobby.

The space-age façade of the exterior was continued inside, everywhere Chihiro looked was glass and steel. In the centre of the lobby was a fountain with a crystal sculpture as its centrepiece. She hurried across the lobby to the reception desks on the other side, her footsteps echoed in the cavernous space. Only one of the desks was manned, and besides Chihiro and the lone receptionist, the lobby was deserted.

The receptionist, an archetypal thirty-something brunette with horn-rimmed glasses, looked up at her as she approached. "Yes?" She asked coldly.

"Erm…" Chihiro stuttered, "I'm Chihiro Ogino, I'm starting work today."

The receptionist tapped a few keys. "Hmm." She reached into a desk draw and handed Chihiro an id badge, then went back to typing.

Chihiro stood awkwardly, unsure what to do next. The receptionist looked back up, seeming surprised to see her still standing there. "Oh yes, since you're here, you can take this up to Mr Nakajima." She handed her a package, and went back to her work once more. Chihiro opened her mouth to speak. The receptionist looked up again, sighed, and pointed. "Elevators over there, top floor, main office."

Chihiro nodded and walked over to the elevators. She pushed the call button and the doors opened with a 'ping!' Stepping in, she noticed there was no control panel inside the elvevator.

"Please state destination," A computerised female voice inquired.

"Umm… top floor?" Chihiro said hesitantly.

"Please mind the doors," The voice stated, and the elevator began to rise. For some reason, waiting nervously in the rising elvevator, Chihiro felt as if the situation was familiar.

The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened onto a brightly lit white corridor. Several doors were arrayed down the sides, and at the end was a grander-looking double-door, which Chihiro guessed was the main office. She knocked on it politely.

"Come in," A voice called from inside.

She opened the door and stepped through into the office. A large desk was situated in the centre of the room, and the rear wall was a glass window, overlooking the pyramid.

"Hello there," Said the man sitting behind the desk. Chihiro was relieved to see that he was a perfectly ordinary looking businessman, in his fifties, dressed in a smart grey suit. Oddly, she'd been convinced that he'd be some sort of monstrously over-proportioned creature with a huge nose.

"Mr Nakajima?" She asked, timidly.

"Yes, that's me," He smiled, getting up from behind the desk.

His smile put Chihiro at ease. "This is for you," She said, holding out the package.

"Thank you." He took it from her, then looking at her, he commented, "I haven't seen you here before. Are you new?"

Chihiro nodded. "Yes sir, I'm Chihiro Ogino, I just started today…" She paused, "Though I'm not really sure what I'm meant to do."

"The receptionist didn't give you a call badge?"

"No sir," She told him.

"Well, that's okay," He smiled kindly, "I've got a spare right here." He took a button-sized pin from his pocket and handed it to her. "It'll flash red when you're needed. When it flashes go up to a wall terminal like that," He pointed to an intercom-like panel on the wall, "And it'll tell you where to go."

"Thank you sir," She said, attaching the pin to the sleeve of her blouse.

"It's good to have you working with us," He said.

Chihiro gave a small bow and left the office. Nakajima gazed at the door she had left through, he dropped the smile, his eyes turning cold.

"So she's the one who reopened the portal," Said a voice from behind him. Nakajima spun round to see a young man sitting in his chair, feet up on his desk, filing his nails. The man wore a long black coat, over the top of a red shirt and black trousers. His most striking feature was his hair, which was a dark crimson colour, and cascaded down to his shoulders like liquid fire. A closer observer might also have noticed that his nails were unusual, they were silver, reflective like a mirror, and pointed like claws.

"Damn it, Kaito!" Nakajima yelled in surprise. "When did you come in?"

The young man smirked. "Maybe I was always here… maybe you just didn't notice me."

The older man sighed. "What do you want? You're supposed to be overseeing operations on the other side."

"I wanted to see _her_." Kaito held out his hand, admiring his reflection in his nails. "Even though she doesn't realise it, she's to thank for all of this."

Nakajima knew that his business partner was right. Seven years ago, his company had detected an energy spike in this region, but had no idea of what caused it. He had then been approached by the man calling himself Kaito, who had told him stories of a fantastic world filled with spirits and magic. He hadn't believed the stories at first, but at Kaito's insistence, he had stepped through the portal and seen that world with his own eyes.

The two men had formed a partnership, with Nakajima supplying the funds and technology, and Kaito supplying the knowledge of what to do with it. In truth, Nakajima knew very little about the man he was working with. He seemed to have an intimate knowledge of the spirit world, and also a deep loathing for it. What was sure was that Kaito a bad aura about him. Anyone in a room with him quickly began to feel uncomfortable, and sometimes you got the feeling that he'd kill you as soon as look at you.

As distasteful as the man was, Nakajima's greed had gotten the better of him, and he had signed up to his schemes. The spirit world was a well of untapped profit and it was theirs for the taking. He thought of the girl who had just left. According to Kaito, the portal to the spirit world had been sealed for centuries, until Chihiro Ogino had somehow opened it again. Kaito was also certain that it was the girl, and not her parents, who had been the key.

"It's very fortunate that she's chosen to work here," Nakajima considered. "It makes keeping track of her easier."

"I wonder if we could make use of her for the project," Kaito said distractedly, as if thinking out loud.

"We've discussed this," Nakajima reminded him angrily. "She's not going anywhere near that portal."

The young man shrugged. "Never mind, I can think of _other ways_ to make use of her." He grinned unpleasantly.

Nakajima shivered. One of the worst things about Kaito was that it was impossible to tell if he was joking or being serious. He really hoped that in this case it was one of the man's bad-taste jokes.

"You should get back to the spirit world," He told him. "We need to make sure things run smoothly."

"Don't worry, Ouii-san," Kaito said, using Nakajima's first name, "I've got everything under control." He got up from behind the desk and walked out of the door, coat swirling behind him. "Later!" He waved over his shoulder as he left.

Nakajima relaxed as the door clicked shut. Surprise visits from Kaito always put him on edge; the man could seemingly appear out of nowhere.

The businessman went back to his desk and opened the package Chihiro had delivered to him. Nestled in polystyrene packaging was what looked like a glass ball, which glowed purple with some internal light. He took it out and held it up to the light. Looking through it, he could see something like mist swirling around inside it. He placed it back in the packaging.

The orb was from the first batch. Soon, many more like it would be flowing through the portal and onto the markets. They would change the way the world worked for ever, and make his company the richest on the planet.


End file.
